Hook (A Hitman's Bait 2)

Liam’s remark echoed through my head. I swallowed hard. No way in hell would Liam betray me. We’d come too far in building this business together. But I couldn’t shake the look he’d given me when he checked his phone. What was he keeping from me?

Liam came back, a smile on his lips that didn’t look genuine in the least.

“Everything all right?” I asked.

“Yeah, just a booty call.”

I glanced at my watch. “At one in the afternoon?”

“What can I say? I got the boy hooked on it real good.”

“Hmm.”

“Talking about boys, yours should be here any minute, right?” Liam dropped onto the sofa. “His driving test was scheduled for eleven? No one needs two hours for that.”

“He should be finished already.”

And he hadn’t called me. Surely if he’d passed, he would have called me by now, right? I’d itched to reach out to him so many times, but the last thing I wanted was to come across as too strong. It was his first time driving for his license. If he didn’t pass, he could always do it again.

“Maybe he and Tack went somewhere to celebrate,” I said.

“I’m surprised he didn’t ask you to take him to the BMV.”

I’d volunteered, and he’d turned me down. “He said he would only be more anxious if I took him, so Tack came to the rescue.”

“Why is that boy coming up more and more often?”

“He’s Kit’s best friend. Deal with it.”

He scoffed. “They’ve known each other for a couple of months. How can they be best friends already?”

“They just are. Anyway, when he gets home and he hasn’t passed that test, I don’t want you making any fun of him. Okay?”

“Come on, Sully. You’re sucking the joy out of my relationship with Kit.”

“Joke about something else, but not about this. He might act like it doesn’t matter to him that he doesn’t have his license, but I’ve seen how hard he’s been working at it, never missing a driving lesson.”

“Okay, I’ll throw away my cue cards with all the worst driver ever jokes I scribbled on them.”

“Don’t make me put you at the top of my hit list.”

Liam chuckled. “That would be something, though. After all these years of working together, one of us winds up the villain.”

“Don’t be absurd. Unless you’re confessing to something.”

“Like what?”

I shrugged. “I have a meeting with Pinelli scheduled this week.”

“You’ll still ask him for the time off?”

“Yes. Don’t think we have much of a choice right now. I can sense something is going on. Something I’m missing, but it just won’t come to me.”

“Think he’ll give it to you?”

“Who knows?” I ran a hand through my hair. “But I have to ask.”

“Yeah.”